A kindly thought, a generous deed,
Ye gallant sons of toil!
No nobler trophy could ye raise
On your adopted soil
Than this monument to your kindred dead,
Who sleep beneath in their cold, dark bed.
Like you they left their fatherland,
And crossed th’ Atlantic's foam
To seek for themselves a new career,
And win another home;
But, alas for hearts that had beat so high!
They reached the goal, but only to die.
Let no rich worldling dare to say:
“For them why should we grieve?
But paupers — came they to our shores,
Want, sickness, death to leave?”
Each active arm, jail of power and health,
And each honest heart was a mine of wealth.
‘ Twas a mournful end to day-dreams high,
A sad and fearful doom —
To exchange their fever-stricken ships
For the loathsome typhus tomb;
And, ere they had smiled at Canada's sky,
On this stranger land breathe their dying sigh.
The strong man in the prime of life,
Struck down in one short hour,
The loving wife, the rose-cheeked girl,
Fairer than opening flower,
The ardent youth, with fond hopes elate,—
O'ertaken all by one common fate.
Long since forgotten — here they rest,
Sons of a distant land,—
The epochs of their short career
Mere footprints on life's sand;
But this stone will tell through many a year,
They died on our shores, and they slumber here.